The Untitled Universe Project
by The John Smith
Summary: An early attempt by a younger me to write a novel loosely based within the Metroid universe.


**A quick explanation. Around the time I got into the 8th grade, late 7th grade, I was motivated to write a novel loosely based around the Metroid Universe. I got about 30 pages in, or 11k words before I stopped. All the characters in this are named after different video game characters, but are completely original. I am going to rewrite this story completely, and attempt to get past the part this leaves off at. Expect regular updates, along with links to my personal website, where you can download a .PDF of the story, in case you don't like the way this site is formatted as much as I do.**

**Remember that this was written by me in middle school. I did NOT go back and attempt to fix any errors I might have made. Trust me, there are a lot of them early on. It gets better near the end; _for the most part._  
**

The "Untitled" Universe Project

Enter Jill Valentine

All I remember being rushed through a hospital with my back on a flat bed. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. Everything was a blur. The lights where as blinding as the glare from a thousand suns. I tried to move my hands, but nothing happened. My entire body was numb. The only thing I could feel was the pain near my chest… Wait… Wasn't the pain in my stomach a second ago? It was very strange. The pain traveled through my body so fast that it was imposable to tell where it was. I could feel the pain in my arm with the rest of my body being completely numb, and then suddenly my arm would be completely fine and now it was my legs that were under attack. It did feel like some pain was left as it moved through though, as is I was being eaten from the inside out. My vision was still dead with only the most blinding lights entering my eyes, but the noises became clearer.

"The patent is wakening Doctor!"

"Quickly, we need to make it to the ER!"

The voices where unfamiliar, but for some reason, I felt as if I had known one of them. Eventually the bed finally stopped. I could see a shapeless form of shadows in front of more blinding lights in front of me. They where talking, but I could not understand anything they where saying.

What is this… I don't even…

My head began to spin as they put a mask over my face. My vision began to blacken and before I knew it, I was knocked out.

I felt as if I was in a bad dream. I could remember just yesterday, I was at school with my friends, and now I was on my deathbed. I wasn't sure how it happened, but all I know was that I was infected. I had herd that when you are, there's no hope for you. No cure, no medicine, no treatment, no surgery. If you where infected, you where as good as dead. I didn't want to die. Not now. I still had so much to live for. I wanted it to all go away.

Then. I felt my body start to move. My eyes where still shut, but It was as if I was awake. I herd a doctor start to talk, and then… suddenly, a burst of icy wind had fallen over my body, it was as if the room had turned into a frozen wasteland, no, colder than that, _much colder_. It was cold on an un-fathomable level. I felt my life slowly escaping from my body. This was what it must have been like. I was about to die. I could feel it. I was dead…

Wait… what is this? Am I dead? What is this…?

I could feel the life gone form my body, but I could still think, I didn't understand how, but I could.

Is this it? Is this is what being dead feels like?

I was completely confused, I was sure I was dead, but for some reason, I felt as if I wasn't. Something wasn't right. I never expected a city made of clouds and a golden gate ready to greet me when I made it, nor did I a burning waist underneath the earth, but something didn't feel right. I felt as cold as cold as cold could be, and that there was still something there. I couldn't put my finger on it, but at the same time I felt as if it was staring me in the face. If I was dead, the how could I still think… was I still thinking…? I had no idea what had happened, but something did and I though I was still here… Still Alive.

A long time passed. Long enough to remember a lot of what had happened when I was still alive, but I held on tightly to one memory… the only memory keeping me alive… If I was…

So much time passed. I tried to keep count, but soon lost track. My mind started to go numb. It was as if my body had gone to sleep for 1,000 years, but my brain was still awake. No matter how much I told my self to just wake up, I never could. I was in a never-ending nightmare…

…

Its, been… god knows how long since I've been dead. There was nothing to think about anymore, nothing to do, nothing to see, nothing. It was all taken from me when I died. All there was now was the wanting to see life again within my prison I made in my mind. This was _Hell_…

…

_It's so cold…_

…

I had forgotten what it felt like to be warm… The felling I longed for was the felling I would never feel again. For all the time I held on to the warmth, I had finally forgotten what it felt like. The last thing I ever had was gone. The last hope I had was gone.

_Gone…_

_Wait…_

I was confused. I had felt something. Wait… _I Felt Something_. I had felt something. For the first time in a long time, I had felt something. There was no way this was happening. _I Felt Something! I FELT SOMETHING!_

I couldn't tell what was going on, but all I knew was that something was happening.

I felt the cold being replaced with the one thing I had forgotten. The one thing I had longed for, for a long time, had finally came. The cold left my body, and I had felt that feeling spread through my body again. It was heart stopping. I felt the cold escape from me and I cold feel again.

_I'm alive…_

_I'm Alive…!_

_I'M ALIVE!_

My eyes had opened for the first time in forever, I couldn't see anything but a bunch of blinding lights, and that may have been it, but it felt so good. My body began to move, and I was on my back again. Sounds slowly creped back into my mind as I herd something. I felt the blanket I was laying on, and could feel the people as they moved around me. My senses may have been dull, but compared to before, I was more then aware of anything around me. I waited as I started to recognize the noises.

_People… there are people here… and there talking…_

I tried piecing together everything going on around me. My senses slowly came back to me with every passing second, with sound seaming to lead the pack.

"Someone get me a thermometer, quick!"

I started to understand what the people where saying. I was so amazed. Just a moment ago I was dead, and somehow I was now alive. I felt as if this was all just way to good to be true. I could feel everything around me but I just could not believe what had happened.

_How dose someone die and just come back to life? That's imposable. What if I wasn't dead? How would that have happened?_

I had no idea how this had happened, but all I knew was that I was alive.

"I need some one to check her pulse!"

_They don't know I'm alive yet… ha ha…_

"She's alive sir, She's alive!"

_You're right I'm alive…_

I herd a group of people cheer in excitement as they herd the news. One of them sounded a lot manlier then the others. He had asked them,

"So, what are you going to do with the girl?"

_This guy has the right idea right here…_

"We have some experiments to run, but after that she'll probably go into a fo-"

The next thing I knew I spat up blood all over my chest.

_AHHHhhhhh! The pain! THE PAIN!_

My entire body had felt like I had been pushed down a thousand mile tall mountain and then set on fire. My head became light and the pain began to travel through my body once again. The same pain as when I was in the hospital I died. I heard the voices of the men start to panic.

"Quickly, someone grab a flat bed and get her out of here!"

The pain had kept moving through me so fast; it felt like someone was stabbing me in every different spot on my body imaginable at the speed of light.

"We need to get her to an ER, NOW!"

I herd someone run over to what sounded like a radio and yell into it for a helicopter.

_Wait… if I'm not in a hospital, where am I!_

I tried to think about it for a moment, but the pain quickly interrupted me. I lied on my back with the pain continuing to eat away at me. I wasn't much longer before I had started to feel myself fade away again. My frail and helpless body sat under attack from the pain of the infection flowing through me.

_It hurts…_

_Make it go away… Please…_

The pain started to consume my body, and before I knew it, I felt as if the stabs had become cars hitting me going 80 miles an hour.

"Finally! Get her on that ro-"

The man's voice was interrupted my by a loud and sharp noise. I felt blood spill over my body and with it the noise of something hitting the ground.

Time had stopped and I had almost had a heart attack.

_That blood wasn't mine! What's going on! What was that noise! Was it what I though it was!_

My mind had flashed into a million questions as I tried to piece this together. I wasn't fast enough though. Before I knew it, time had flashed back into play and I had herd an explosion of the loud noises. The men began to shout and scream as the loud noises erupted into an explosion of chaos.

_Gun shots!_

I began to panic at I herd the rain of lead fly through the air at… god knows where. Every thing was going so fast around me; my mind couldn't keep up. All I remember is hearing the sounds of the death machines as I felt countless number of thuds on the ground. Blood had now almost covered my body and I was completely breath taken. Not to mention the pain still running through my body not helping me in any way, shape, or form. I was so confused. Everything started to blur together. Eventually one of the men picked me up and started running. My sight had came back to me, but was starting to fade away one again. I saw the blood spilled all over my chest and mouth. I looked at the walls to see they where made of rock. I then looked up and saw the face of the man saving me. He was a soldier. Hid face was covered in blood and dirt. But something was different about him.

_His body… It feels different…It feels… warm…_

Everything had melted away now. The sounds blurred together into a mess of screams and gunshots. My sight had faded away and all I could smell was blood. The pain form the infection had made me become numb. But one thing kept itself apparent. The warmth. The warmth from the man's body never left me.

Never…

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. The blood was gone from my body and everything was quiet. My eyes slowly opened and the light from the sun had shined through a window, hitting the bed.

The warmth…it feels so good…

It was the best feeling in the world to have the sun hit my skin once more. I lied on that bead with my eyes closed and the sun hitting my skin. It was the best feeling in the world… I herd the door open and I turned my head to look over. A nurse stood there looking at me in shock and awe. I was going to say something to her but she rushed back over to the door and shouted something to everyone outside. Before I knew it, the room was filled with people all looking in amassment at me. They where all talking and asking questions to each other.

"Do you think she knows what we are saying?"

One of the people said out loud over all of the others. I tried to sit up and I looked at him.

"No, I don't know anything your saying at all."

They all looked at me in sock and a doctor had walked up close to me. He made me lie down on the bed and told me not to sit up.

"She doesn't know what your saying sir."

The same person tried to tell the doctor.

"I was joking, idiot."

Everyone gasped and looked at me for a second. It was as if they had frozen in place for a moment. I looked at them all as if they where crazy and seamed to get the same look back. They then all started to cheer and hug each other. I looked at them confused and asked,

"What's going on? And why are you guys all hugging it out?"

One of the people looked over to me and said,

"Do you know what happened to you?"

I sat down and thought about it for a moment. All of the people stoped and looked at me waiting for a reply.

"I don't think I can think back that far. All I remember is being dead… and the cold… but then the cold started to fade away… and I was alive again."

The men sat in amassment as they herd what I had to say.

"…And after that, the pain returned. Unbelievable pain. I remember then hearing gunshots and then I passed out… But if there was one thing I remember most, it was the warmth of the man who carried me out of… where ever I was…"

They all looked blown away by my story. I ignored the doctor and sat up on my bed looking at them all.

"…So where are my parents? How long was I gone?"

They all looked down and said nothing. The feeling in the room had just took a 180 and slammed on the gas peddle. After a long silence one of the people walked up to my bed and kneeled down next to me. He looked into my eyes and asked me,

"What's your name?"

I looked a bit surprised at him and then replied,

"Jill. Jill Valentine, sir."

He looked down for a second and said nothing like the rest. I was confused.

What's going on? Did something happen while I was dead?

No amount of thinking would have prepared me for what he was about to say.

"Jill… The Year is 4268. You parents have been dead for over 3000 years."

I couldn't believe what he had just told me. It was just so ridiculous that there was no way he was true. I moved my feet over the bed and put them on the floor.

"There's no way you're right, that's absolutely ridiculous."

I stood up and looked at the window. The curtains where down, but light still managed to go through them. I pulled them up and I had frozen in place. My eyes must have been lying to me, because there was no way any of what I was seeing was real. There where these things flying through the air, and all of the buildings where made of metal. I took a couple of steps back and feel back on the bed. My brain went haywire from the amount of information I was trying to process. I couldn't believe what had just seen. I couldn't believe what the men had told me. I couldn't believe any of this was happening. This all had to be some kind of sick, twisted, dream. I looked back at the men and saw that they where all still there. I sat on the bed and just made a prison in my mind trying to accept what was going on. The men all slowly started to leave the room. Eventually there was only one there, in the back of the room, sitting on a chair. I didn't know if he was looking at me or not, I never looked at him, but I knew he was there.

Eventually a man walked in and stood next to my bed. I'm not sure how much time passed, but it was night out for sure.

"Jill. After three days, you'll be ready to leave the hospital, but where you'll go is a bit tricky."

I sat there not even looking at him as he tried to tell me that I would grow up an orphan.

"… We would like to interview you on a regular basis. You hold the key that a lot of historians would love to use. As of where you'll stay, I have found the best child's asylum in-"

"Don't give her any of that crap Sam."

I looked back at the voice that came from the man in the back of the room. The man who was talking to me turned to the voice.

"Well where do you spouse we put her? We can't just throw her on to the streets and let her live in some cardboard box."

The man stood up and walked up to the other. He stood over me and looked into my eyes. After a few moments he turned back over to the other man. I think I her the first one call the second Sam.

"I'll take her in then."

The other man looked at him in shock. I looked up at his face.

That face…

The one he had put his hand on turned to him.

"Adrian… Are you sure? You're going to have to teacher her a lot about the present."

The man… Adrian then turned to him.

"I've wanted a kid ever since that day. You of all people should know that better than anyone else."

The two of them continued to argue about my future. They shouted back and forth. The constant bickering and shouting started to give me a headache, not to mention the fact they are talking about MY future and I wasn't given the chance to say anything. I got tired of it and eventually asked?

"Don't I get a say in any of this?"

The two of them turned to me and at the same to said,

"NO!"

That was the exact answer I wasn't going to take.

"What do you mean I don't get a say in this, Its MY future your talking about!"

I shouted back at them and ended up getting pulled into the argument. Sam wanted me to go to a foster home, which was never going to happen in a million years, and Adrian wanted to adopt me. I just wanted the two of them to leave the room so that I could think out the rest of my life.

"As you're commanding officer, I'm telling you right now that you can't adopt this child!"

Sam shouted at Adrian who insisted on adopting me.

_Adrian? I'm sure his name is Adrian._

I was ready to stop this pointless yelling right now. I opened my mount ready to shout at the both of them to shut up when another man busted open the door.

"SHUT UP!"

The both of them immediately went silent and stood perfectly still like soldiers waiting for an order from there officer.

"At ease."

The big man the busted through the door said as he walked over to my bed.

"Well well. Looks like the two of you have a problem."

Then Sam said,

"Yes sir."

The big man then turned to him and got in his face as if he was ready to kick ass.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD TALK MAGGOT!"

The then immediately got back into the ready position and yelled,

"NO SIR!"

The big man then got even farther in his face and yelled,

"THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

I got scared almost instantly. The men arguing where pretty big, maybe 6'3 highest, but this guy had to be at lease 6'7 minimum. He then turned to me and towered above my bed.

"So I herd you're name is Jill, am I mistaken?"

I tried to reply, but I found myself at a loss of words. I almost wet myself just looking at this guy. His presence was absolutely terrifying. I could only imagine what his family gatherings are like. My mouth finally opened.

"No sir…"

He then replied,

"You don't have to call me sir, but thank you for you're kindness. Well, it looks like you have a problem here. Sam wants you to got to a home and Adrian wants to adopt you."

He then pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it.

"It is your future we are talking about here, so I'll give you two options."

He then took a hit of the thick cigar and blew it into the air, making me choke on the black smoke.

"Do you want to go into a foster home, or live with Adrian?"

If anything I didn't want to go into any kind of foster home. I quickly replied after I stopped choking on the cigar smoke,

"I'll live the Adrian."

He then turned to Adrian and said,

"You're a vary lucky man Adrian. I'll get your adoption papers after I'm done with this cigar. Well get this all sorted out before she leaves that bed."

He then walked to the door just as Adrian had said,

"Thank you sir."

The huge man then turned and said,

"Don't thank me, thank the girl."

He then walked out the door and with that I was sure I herd a nurse yell at him that he couldn't smoke inside.

"Well that settles that then."

Sam said as he started to walk to the door. Adrian then walked back over towards the back of the room and leaned on the wall. The door busted back open and Sam peeked his head in the door way asked Adrian,

"Hey, I know now isn't the best time to talk about this, but you're still up for poker on Saturday, right?"

Adrian then looked down for a moment and then looked at back at him with a smile on his face.

"You know I'd never cancel poker night."

They both smiled then laughed for a moment then Sam finally left, closing the door behind him. Adrian stood there on that wall with a very zoned out look on his. He got up and the started to walk over to the door.

"Well I'm sure you had enough chaos for today, I'm going to let you get some rest."

His face… There's something about his face I remember…

I watched as he put his hand on the door. I then said to him.

"Hey…"

He turned back and looked at me.

"I just wanted to say… Thanks…"

He then smiled at me and walked out the door. I then fell back on my bed and just started to think. My mind was going crazy with thoughts of everything that would happen and my eyes started to close. I didn't know what time it was, but I knew I was beat. I felt myself slowly drift to sleep. As I did the only thing I could think of was his face. I didn't know what it was, But there was something about this face the reminded me of something. Something warm…

3 Days Later

I had been waiting in the lobby of the hospital. There was a crowd of news reporter's banging on the doors and soldiers standing inside with their guns on them. Their job was to make sure that none of the press harmed me in the process of me getting to Adrian's house. I wasn't sure how we would get there, this being the future for me, but all I knew was that I wanted to get out of this hospital. I was wearing an orange t-shirt and shorts that Adrian had given me. My shoes where pick converse look a likes. It was nice to know that clothes hadn't changed much in the future. I really didn't want to have to get use to wearing something train reek of an outfit from The Jetsons. The banging on the glass from the crowd outside was so lode, I could barely hear myself think. I looked at one of the soldiers and shouted,

"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GET THEM TO STOP BANGING ON THE WINDOWS? I THINK MY EARS ARE BLEEDING."

He then turned to me and shouted back,

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

I then made a sign with my hand signaling him to walk over to me. I the shouted into his ear,

"CAN YOU MAKE THEM STOP BANGING ON THE GLASS?"

He looked at me and shrugged.

"I STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU."

He shouted to me. I started to get aggravated. I got up and looked around the room. I was hoping they still used paper in the future. There was none in the room, but I saw a terminal in the corner of the room. I walked over to it and tried to use it. I had a sign over it saying, "public accesses" so I thought it was ok for me to use it. As I turned it on I was greeted to a desktop similar to the computers I used I school.

_Never change future, never change._

They're where 3 Icons on the desktop and the start menu bar was still there. This was no Windows 7 though. I could tell it was much more advanced, but the layout was relatively the same. I opened all three of the icons to see one was A web browser, the next was something to send emails, and the third was some kind of face to face chat program, almost like Skype. I saw that the terminal did have a camera and some kind of microphone on it. I looked back at the email window, and it had asked for a login ID.

I then typed in, "Can you make them stop banging on the window?" in the email field and called the soldier over to me again. I pointed to the screen and then he looked at it. He looked back to me and nodded. He turned to the rest of the soldiers and made some weird hand sighs. Then, 3 of the 5 busted open the door with their guns pointed at the crowd telling them to keep away from the glass. I sat back in my seat in relief from the loud noises now becoming almost whispers from across the room. I'm sure the crowd was still shouting and screaming, but now that they weren't banging on the think glass, it could do its job of keeping the noise outside. I was a bit surprised that the glass didn't even have a scratch on it. There must have been at least 30 people all banging on it at once.

I felt like a celebrity who couldn't get away from the press. I was hoping that this kind of think would end soon. I didn't enjoy mass crows of new reporters all trying to invade my personal life.

"Hey kiddo, you ready to head out?"

I looked over to see a soldier with a gas mask on looking down at me. There where 3 other soldiers next to him.

"You bet I am."

The soldier took of his mask to revile that he was Adrian. I couldn't recognize his voice through the mask, but they way he addressed me made it a bit obvious. The mask did something to your voice, to make it sound almost robotic. All of the soldiers in the room where wearing them. Adrian then yelled to the other 2 soldiers in the room.

"You two, get over here. We are going to go over the plan one last time. And where are the other three? I herd there was going to be five soldiers here."

I poked Adrian and the pointed over to the soldiers struggling to keep the crowd back. He looked at them then turned back to me. He then got all of the soldiers to huddle in a circle around my seat and pulled out the tablet thing. He pressed a button and a part at the top rose by one metal pole looking thing. A hologram then appeared in between the two parts of the magnets. It was one of the coolest things I've seen so far.

"Here is the plan. We are going to create a circle around Jill, making sure that no one can get near her. We are then going to move from the front door to the hanger just next to the hospital. Its currently been blocked of by the Army. I contacted their officer to let them know we would be coming in right about now, so they have a passage ready for us to come in, but we are going to have to be quick if we want to make sure none of the reporters make it in…"

As he had explained the plan to us, He used his fingers as a penile like object and drew 3D lines on the hologram showing the path we would take. It was unbelievable to me that something like that could exist. I then realized that he was still giving out the plan and that I had totally zoned out thinking about the future note pad, hologram, thing.

"Did everyone get that?"

He had said. I looked at him and tired to speak.

"Umm… I uhh…"

He put his hand on my shoulder and said,

"Jill, we are going to make a circle around you and make sure no one tries to hurt you. We are going to walk just down the street to a place where they keep ships so we can fly you home. If you want me to, I can stand next to you the entire time."

I looked at him with my mind just drawing a blank.

"Uhh… Sure I guess…"

He grabbed my hand and shouted to the soldiers to get ready. They all made a circle around us with there guns pointed outwards and we started to walk out the door. The crowd pushed the three soldiers back over to us. Their where flashes from cameras and reporters all shouting at me trying to ask me questions. I looked at them all as I was just paralyzed by the amount of them all-trying to just talk to me. My mind was doing over time but my legs still moved with Adrian leading me. The voices and flashing lights where just so amazing. Questions bombarded me at an unbearable speed. My mind was being assaulted by the seemingly endless wave of people. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know anything anymore. My mind was trying to think about to many things at once. I quickly started to get a headache from the flashes of light. As we where walking, Adrian handed me a pair of glasses, or at least I think they where glasses. He shouted at me to put them on, or at least I think I did. He was standing right next to me and I couldn't hear him over the mob of people trying to get picture of me. I knew the press was bad in my time, but they seemed like savages now. I had put the strange looking thinks over my eyes, and suddenly, all the flashes where reduced to what looked like a flashlight almost out of batteries being flicked on and off. I also felt something over my ear, then suddenly, it suck into me. It felt like a bee had just stung my ear, but suddenly, the noise from the press started to drown out.

"Is your HUD working Jill?"

I herd Adrian's voice, but I hadn't seen his lips move.

"If you can hear me Jill, the squeeze my hand."

I felt like I was already holding on to his hand the hardest I could, but I tried my best to get a better grip on it. I was very confused. My headache also seemed to fade away. My mind felt much clearer, and I suddenly felt like I had a sense of where I was.

"Good, you can hear me."

His voice rang out once again in the near silence, but it seemed to have no direction it was coming from. It was almost like hearing yourself talk.

"You're wearing a HUD right now. It taps directly to the small bone of your ear. From this process, you can silence things around you, enhance sounds, or listen to what other people are thinking."

I felt like I must have been playing a video game. Something like that sounded like it made no sense, but I continued to listen anyway.

"To talk back, press your fingers against your left ear and think what you want to say."

I noticed that he had his fingers pressed against his ear, but I though he was just trying to cover his ears. I move my left arm over my ear and pressed it softly.

"…_&#^*(&*^%$#%%… …&^$%#%*&#$%%*#$^$^%$#…_"

I could see Adrian suddenly move his head and put both of his hand over his ears as if they where bleeding. I moved my hand away for my ear as fast as I could. I could see Adrian then move his hands away from his head. He put his hand up to his ear.

"…Okay… That probably wasn't the best idea on my part…"

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit on the inside. He didn't look like he was hurt, but he did sound like someone just blew a bullhorn in his ear for half a second.

"Listen to me. Until you can think strait, never even put your fingers near your ear."

He looked at me as I herd his voice and I chuckled a little. I then looked forward to see the group of people in front of us. I had almost forgotten that we where walking, or what was going on. It was nice that the flashes where not in my eyes anymore, and that it was silent with the exception of Adrian's voice, but my mind started to rush in circles again. I felt my self start to drift into my thoughts again, with my lifeless body continuing to walk for me. I tried to focus on one thing at a time, but I felt overwhelmed by all the things that had happened to me so far. Everything felt so foggy.

"You look like your lost in your thought kid."

_I am lost…_

"Tell you what. I can change a setting on that HUD so it clears your mind. It helps you focus on what happening around you. Most solders today use it."

_That sounds pretty nice…_

"I'm going to turn the focus setting on. If you get light headed or feel faint, tell me immediately by squeezing my arm. Okay?"

_Okay…_

I could see myself in a dark room, balled up in the corner. I could feel the darkness get closer and closer… and it was so cold… It slowly started to wrap itself around me when a flash of light appeared from the corner. The light must have been brighter then the sun. I could feel the darkness vanish from on top of me, and the blinding light became a simple lamp. I stood up and felt the warmth start to cove my body when a door opened up. It lead into a bright room. I started to steep forward when suddenly I was blinded. I felt as if my mind had been completely cleared of every thought for it, and my vision came back to me. I saw the crowd in front of me again, with the soldiers pushing them back. I felt as if I was not completely concentrated on everything around me.

"You doing alright kid?"

I put my finger up to my ear and pressed it.

"I feel like my mind was just cleared of everything except what is happening around me right then."

Adrian looked back at me in shock.

"Hey, It worked."

He turned his head forward again.

"Listen kid. Your currently wearing one of the most advanced pieces of military technology known to man kind today. All of this is pretty new to me too, but just try and get use to it… We all are trying to…"

I pushed my ear again.

"What is it doing to my head? I feel like I just had it completely cleared of every bad though and now all I can concentrate on is what I'm doing and what your saying."

He stayed silent for a moment before he replied to me.

"It clears your mind of all thought that don't protein to any military orders. It's used to give a solder 100% concentration on his mission…"

He paused for a moment.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to use it on you, but I was ordered by my commanding officer to do it."

I looked back at him for a moment.

"Why is that?"

He was silent for another moment. I could tell by the expression on his face that he was trying to find a way to explain it to me the best way he could, even through his mask.

"Lets just say that if you do have a lot of bad memories… Its not very nice once they come back…"

I looked forward trying to think about the possibilities of what would happen after he turned this off for me, but my mind kept forcing me to concentrate on walking forward. It was the weirdest feeling in the world. Not being able to think about something. Having your mind think for you. I couldn't explain it any better, even if I tried.

"Do you have the mind block setting thing on right now too?"

He continued to look forward.

"I don't like to use it… It just doesn't feel right… Not being in control of your own mind…"

He made a couple of hand signals in the air above his head and then turned to me, still walking forward.

"We are almost at our destination. Once we are there, we are going to load you onto a ship. From there we will being going to an office to get some paper work done, and then we will being heading home."

Home… I wish I could go ho-

I felt my mind redirect it self to what I was doing. I started to get angry at the mind suppressing systems in this thing, and then I felt my anger get changed into focus. It was so weird. I felt like I couldn't feel anymore. Every time I thought, it was blocked. Every time I had an emotion, it was channeled into focus. The only thing left in my mind, was the mission. It was all that mattered anymore. I needed to get on that ship and get home.

"Sounds good."

I was trying to fight back at the suppression of my thoughts so hard, but nothing was working. I felt as if I had been stuck in the coma again. The empty shell of me was walking and no matter how hard screamed or shouted in my mind, nothing would happen…

…No, I couldn't even scream or shout in my mind. It was like someone was thinking for me…

We eventual made it to that ship. I felt like I wanted to be surprised at the fact that I just was a flying space ship that could probably fly faster then the speed of light, but the mind suppression seemed to take care of that quickly. I took a seat next to Adrian as the other soldiers sat in seats across from us. What was a ramp that lead to the place where we where sting turned into a door and closed. They're where windows on it, so I could see the city as we flew away, but I couldn't think about any of it with my mind like this.

"How do I turn of this mind controlling thing?"

Adrian looked over at me and then took off his mask. He looked back at all of the soldiers sitting there across from us. They where all staring at me. I was _trying_ to wonder what was going on.

"Frank, can I turn Jill's mind suppressor off now? She must be killing herself trying to think right now."

He said out loud with his finger pressed against his ear. I sat quietly _trying_ to think about how I could ask him what was going on.

"Frank, the mission is over! She doesn't need to keep it on!"

He got up a little bit and started to yell. I _wanted_ to do something, but my mind wouldn't let me.

"FRANK! LISTEN TO ME! THE MISSION IS OVER! TURN OFF HER MIND SUPRESSIOR OR I WILL MYSLEF!"

All of the other soldiers where sitting quietly listening to what was going on. They all look away from us. I sat there, fighting myself to take back control of my mind. Adrian then pulled this thing out of his ear and stopped on it, smashing it. He knelled down and looked me in the eye, with his left ear was dripping blood.

"Jill. I'm going to take off your HUD…"

He paused and looked away. After a few second, he looked back.

"I'm not going to lie to you. This is going to hurt a lot, but I need you to be ready. Okay?"

I _tried_ to respond to him, but I couldn't.

"Get ready. I'm going to do it."

I felt Adrian put his hands on the HUD. He then grabbed the part that was connected to my ear and ripped it out. I felt like me ear was just stabbed by a bowie knife, but that wasn't what was getting to me the most. It was my thought. My head just exploded in thoughts as every thought I was thinking all exploded in my head. I fell to the floor of the ship with my hands on my head screaming in pain. It felt as if someone had just tapped into my brain and started to dump all the information in the world at once. I could see the red liquid drip from Adrian's face onto the floor, and then I looked at my hand. I had it covering my ear when I had fell. I saw that it was covered in red. I continued to scream on the ground as Adrian knelled down next to me trying to comfort me. He yelled at one of the soldiers to go get a bandage for me, but no one would get up from their seats… Or at least that's what I thought was happening. It was hard to tell with everything that was going through my mind. I could barely comprehend half of the things going through my mind, and in pain I just continued to scream in pain. I eventually started to fell faint and passed out.

1 Hour Later

I felt consciousness come back to me slowly, as I started to regain the thought of what had happened. I remembered the thought all coming back to me after Adrian took of my HUD. The thought of ever having that happen to me again quickly send shivers down my spine. I got up and sat down from what looked like a bed from a free clinic. I started to look around and saw that there where 3 other beds next to the one I was sitting on top of. There was also some counters to the side. The place, in many ways, did look like that of a clinic from my time, but something was different. I stood up and tried to remember exactly what had happened again. I looked down to realize that my clothes had been changed again.

I can change my own clothes you idiots!

I was now in one of the robe like things they make you wear when you go into the hospital, and it shows you butt.

…_What do you call them again…? Why am I even worried about that in the first place!_

I felt like someone took my mind and threw it in the gutter. I just couldn't keep my thought strait. It seemed like every little detail distracted me from what I was trying to focus on. I wasn't sure if this was a side effect of the HUD's mind control setting or everything that has happened to me up to this point. It wouldn't of surprise me if it was both. At that point, a giant flying spaghetti monster could have cam out of the closet and I wouldn't be surprised anymore.

…_Hmm… Spaghetti… Now that I think about it, I am kind of hungry… Stay focused Damn it!_

I just completely stopped thinking for a moment and sat back down on the bed, trying to get my thinking strait. again.

Okay… Adrian ripped the HUD out of my ear, and there was blood… Wait… There was blood!

I moved my left had over my ear and felt something over it. I'm pretty sure it was a band-aid of sorts, but something about it felt different. It was too big to be a band-aid. I quickly shot my eyes around the room in search of a mirror. I noticed one in the corner of the room. I sprang from the bed and sprinted towards it. I immediately looked at my ear to see that there was something over it, but it wasn't a band-aid for sure. It looked like some kind of piece of silk someone draped over my ear.

…It looks like silk… but feels like a band-aid… I wonder who thinks up this stuff… There I go again!

I caught myself drifting in my thoughts again. I slapped my hand against my fore head in an attempt to try and clear my mind.

…_Stay focused… Stay focused… Oh my god…_

I took a look at myself in the mirror. Not just worrying about the band-aid, Not just at my clothes, But I looked at myself. I remembered looking at myself in the mirror, getting ready for that special day. I couldn't remember very many things before I died, but this seemed to be one of the things that I couldn't get out of my head…

2256 Years Ago

I looked at myself in the mirror. I kept looking for every single flaw there could have possibly been on me. There was always one. My hair was not combed right. My skirt was too wrinkled. My makeup was smudged on one spot. It aggravated me to no end. I _needed_ to be perfect for that moment. I continued to fix every little thing on my outfit, only making the slightest and most careful changes. My mom eventual poked her head through the door.

"Jill, are you ready? We need to go now, or we will be late."

I looked back at my mother with a brush still in one hand going through my hair.

"Just give me a second mom… I'll be right out."

She looked away for half a second as she sighed. I turned back to the mirror just as she replied to me.

"You said that 15 minuets ago sweetie."

Not turning back to her, I countered her.

"I'll be out in 2 seconds mom, just hold on!"

My mom opened the door to my room fully now and took a step inside. I continued to brush my hair as she walked towards me. I tried to ignore her, but she walked next to me and put her hand on my shoulder and knelled down next to me.

"You look great honey. I'm sure he will love it."

I turned to her and smiled. She then wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me. I turned and hugged her back. She eventual let go of me and stood up. She turned to me and said,

"Lets go."

2256 Years Later

I stood there in front of the mirror with the memories of my past flooding into my mind. I felt a single tear roll down the side of my face as I herd the door open. I didn't look back, but I could tell who it was. He walked towards me and then stood next to me. Without a word he put his hand on my shoulder. It was at this point I couldn't help myself anymore. I turned around and squeezed my arms around him as I let myself go. I could feel the tears start to soak into his shirt. He moved his hand from my shoulder to my back and hugged me back… His body was so warm…

After what felt like a long time, we eventually let go of each other. I felt slightly embarrassed with a few tears still dripping down my checks, but Adrian didn't seem to notice. I kept my head down slightly as I tried to hold in my tears. Eventually, Adrian walked over to the door and turned.

"Follow me."

He then turned back and took a step out the door. I tried to move my legs, but they felt so life less. Eventually, I was able to move them and I made it outside the door. Adrian took my down some long and narrow hallways to another door like the one to the clinic. He opened the door and pointed inside. I took a few steps in and studied the room. I saw a queen sized bed with the comfiest looking pillows and fluffiest blanket ever. I looked back at Adrian in confusing and he said to me,

"These are my personal quarters. You can sleep here until we make it to our destination."

He took a step inside and got something out of a drawer. He then turned back and headed towards the door. Just before he was about to walk out I stopped him.

"Where are we going?"

He paused for a moment before turning his head back towards me and giving me a thumbs up. He simply replied with,

"Home."

And then walked out the door. I then turned back to the bed and looked at it. I then walked to it and sat on it. The softness of the blanket took me in and I quickly wrapped myself in it. I set my head down on the pillows and started to drift into sleep.

Home…2 Hours Later

I stood in the cockpit of the ship next to Adrian looking out the windshield. All the mechanics and control panels looked like something out of Star Trek, but at least 50 times more confusing. I tried to look at half of the things Adrian was pushing, wondered what exactly they where doing, but I couldn't quite keep up.

"Looks a lot more complicated then a car, a kido?"

He looked back at me with a smile as he continued to press a few things. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit and replied with,

"I'm surprised you even know what a car is."

He turned back around and looked back at where he was going and countered with,

"Hey, you might not be in Kansas anymore, but people still drive cars."

I paused for a moment.

_Okay, so people still drive cars, AND he just made a Wizard of Oz reference…_ _I'm so confused…_

I scratched my head for a moment before opening my mouth.

"How do you know about the Wizard of Oz? That movie was considered dinosaur old back in the 2000's."

He laughed for a moment and then turned back to me.

"That movie wasn't that old back then. It was only… 70 years old? I'm not sure."

He scratched his face and then continued.

"They made me watch it in kindergarten. I guess its to remind us of how are we have came. Even then, I enjoy older movies more then I do everything they make now. Its all about virtual reality and who has the best emersion software."

Virtual Reality? Emersion Software? That sounds kind of creepy…

I thought back to the HUD controlling my thoughts and wanted no part in watching any new movie from this time. I must have had a strange look on my face as I thought about what he said, because Adrian started to laugh some more before he turned back around.

"You know you're going to old enough to fly one of these things soon."

My eyes opened wide as I leaned closer to the front dashboard thing of the ship and turned my face towards Adrian.

"They seriously let 14 year olds drive these things!"

My mind started to ponder on the possibilities of things someone my age might do with one of these ships. It kept me distracted for a moment; that is until Adrian replied, without looking away from where he was driving,

"The legal age to drive a ship like this is 16…"

He paused for a moment before tilting his head towards me and looking into my eyes.

"I thought you said you where 15."

I leaned back for a moment. I was trying to think of something withy to say, but nothing came to mind. Eventual, Adrian broke the silence.

"I guess you're technically over four-thousand years old."

I kept facing him but I broke the eye contact.

"I guess your right."

I felt my thoughts rush back to the memories of what my life was like before all of this. It was hard to though. It had been such a long amount of time from when I was frozen till unfreezing. The doctors told me that I was luck I remember anything at all, or that I'm not insane from being sense deprived for that long of a period of time. I tried to remember, but I could only remember the darkness… The cold… I hated the cold…

I hope Adrian lives in the middle of a desert…

"Say, why don't you let me tell you a couple of things about driving a ship like this. It'll be fun."

He had broken my train of thought… And I was glad.

"Sure. Why not."

I felt like I had just said that as lifelessly as I could. I didn't intend to say it like that, but I guess it just happened. I took a step closer to the dashboard and started to look at everything Adrian pointed out. He went into this big long speech explaining what each and every button did and when, where, why, and how to press it. He lost me pretty fast. I just kept my eyes looking at where ever he pointed as he talked.

"Did you get all that?"

I looked back at him with a blank expression on my face.

"Umm…"

He put his hand on top of my head and patted my head, messing up my hair in the process.

"You get it some day."

And with that and a smile, he turned back and kept his eyes on what was going on in front of him. I walked away from his seat and looked at everything else here. There where two other seats behind his that looked a lot like his, but pointed towards the walls. I was guessing that they where co-pilots seats. There where also some seats like the ones on the back of the ship we drove out of the hospital on lined on the back wall with the door separating the rows. The door was a little taller then Adrian and looked like it was made of some kind of very think metal. I was like a grocery store door, as where it would automatically open if you got close to it. There where some lockers built into the wall next to the seats, and there where a row of lights on the walls. The floor seemed to be the same kind of metal as the door, but slightly shinier. I looked around at the room a bit more before moving back over to the front control panel area. I looked at the dashboard. I looked at Adrian, now just with his hands on what looked like the steering weal of a Plane mixed with some kind of computer thing. I looked over to the very end of the dashboard to see a big red button in a glass case. I looked at it for a few more second and then pointed towards it.

"What dose that button do?"

Adrian turned to look at what I was pointing at then pauses for a moment. He then got a smile on his face, which he quickly wiped off.

"Oh. That Button. Never press that button, ever."

I looked back at him and asked,

"What dose it do?"

As I asked, I flipped the glass case up. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled it away from it.

"Don't even play around with that button. If I where to slip right now, it would blow us to smithereens!"

I put my other hand on the one he was grabbing me with and pulled his hand away.

"Ohh… I see. I'll make sure not to."

He then turned around for a moment and drove. I felt like there was tension between us now. He moved one of his hands near the button and looked back at me.

"I'm very tired of this life…"

My eyes must have been opened as widely as they could as I turned my head towards him. He lifted his head and put on what looked like a very sadistic smile.

"I'm sure you don't want to live a life like this either."

He sounded completely insane as the words came from his mouth. He moved his hand closer to the button with every passing second. I quickly grabbed his arm with both hands and force myself back in an attempt to get him to move his hand away from the button, but he was to strong.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

I shouted and screamed in panic as his hand had made it over the button. He started to emit an evil laugh as he pointed his thumb out, just over the button.

"I'm going to press it!"

He shouted with an eve laugh to follow. I must have seen my life flash before my eyes at that moment. I screamed while in slow motion, he pressed his thumb over the big red button. Time froze. And for a second I had no idea what was going on.

Wait… Nothings blowing up…

I looked over at Adrian as he kept his head down and started to chuckle. I looked at the front windshield to see that a wiper had emerged from the corner of the window and started to clean it.

"A windshield wiper!"

Adrian couldn't hold it in any longer. He exploded into a burst of laughter. He grabbed his stomach as he began to kick his feet.

"I got you!"

He could barely stop laughing to tell me that. My face quickly became a bright red as I pulled my arm back and punched his shoulder as hard as I could.

"Don't joke around like that!"

My punch seemed to do nothing as he continued to keep laughing. I folded my arms and took a step away from him. I just wanted to slap him across the face. He started to calm down a little and then tried to say something. After about the third try, he was finally able to say what he was trying to say.

"I-I'm sorry… But I got you so good!"

My face got even redder as I began to rush over to the door. I was in front of it as it opened it, and then Adrian stopped me.

"Hey Jill! Hold on!"

I turned around and shot him a look that satin himself would probably find scary.

"What?"

The words came from my mouth in such a way that must have made it clear I was done with his games. He began to speak as I turned my head back around.

"No hard feelings, right kido?"

I paused for a moment. I just thought about what he said for a moment. And then I turned around and gave him a thumbs up as I smiled.

"Right."

And with that, I turned and walked back over to Adrian's room. We had already been in the ship for some time, and I'm sure that it wouldn't be long before we made it to his house. I was hoping that was soon …

Home…

30 Minutes Later

I had found myself wearing the same clothing I had worn out of the hospital, but now they where fresh out of the wash, and still warm. I hugged myself a little, letting the warmth of my clothes keep the cold away. I watched as the ship went into orbit of a small planet, Similar to earth.

"Welcome to K-2L."

Adrian said as we started to fly down closer to the surface of the planet. There seemed to be a lot of forested area, but off in the distance I could see what looked like wastelandish area. I was going to ask Adrian about it, but It got out of our vision too fast. I glanced back over towards the forested areas to see that they eventually turn into plains of endless grass. Light from the sun bounced off the grass, waving in the wind creating a beautiful sight, greater then may things I've ever seen. Eventually, I started to see a figure in the distance. As it came into view much better, I looked closer and saw that it looked like a very upper class home. It had a very ultra-modern look to it. One of the sides of the house was tilted at a 45 degree angle with three columns made of wood, and in between them where 3 huge panels of glass.

"That house looks absolutely amazing!"

I said allowed as I turned to Adrian in shock of him having what looked like a house that Bill Gates wouldn't mind keeping as a summer home. He laughed a little and then turned to me.

"Yea. The Galactic Federation treats its military personnel pretty nicely. I've been with them since I was 18, and they pay you a little more for every year you serve actively."

The idea of something like that kind of boggled my mind. I then asked him,

"You said you where 30, right?"

And with almost no delay, he said,

"Yep. I've served with the GFM for 22 years."

_22 years. That a long time to be with the military…_

"And you're still a corporal? Shouldn't you be a officer by now, at the very least, a sergeant?"

He scratched the back of his head as he turned his head back towards the controls of the ship.

"I'm part of a special unit called the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, or HECU for short. It was founded just as I got out of training, and when I turned 19 I was one of the first to join the unit. I had been offered many time to be promoted to the rank of an officer, but I declined every time…"

He paused for a moment, and before I had the chance to ask why, he said,

"I joined the GFM to keep humanity safe, not to sit behind a desk and sign a piece of paper allowing a group of civilians to do a soldiers job."

His sentence confused me, but I decided not to ask any more questions, seeing that the subject was a little pushy for him. The ship started to slow down before it came to a compete stop, and then started to drop.

"Well, were here."

Adrian said to me without looking at me, still pressing buttons on the dashboard of the ship. Eventually the ship touched down on the surface of the planet, and Adrian cut the engine. He then turned back to me and said,

"Home."

For the first time in what was probably a 6 hour drive, Adrian stood for the chair of the cockpit and stretched, then started to make his way out of the cockpit. We made our way through a tunnel of hallways before I had made it over to a big, empty room.

"Stand behind the yellow and black line."

Adrian said to me as he made his way over to the other side of the room. I noticed that there was a huge line on the floor, and that the line was far enough from the wall to fit 2 people wide, at most. I saw that my foot was on the line, then took a step back, and as I did, Adrian hit a button on the other side of the room, and then the floor started to lower into a ramp. Adrian waited for the floor to stop moving, and then walked down the ramp. I followed him slowly, and then was blinded by the light outside. For the first time in the trip here, the sun had hit my skin. I stopped for a moment and closed my eyes. A gust of wind passed by and I took a deep breath. The sun shined on my face and then wind rushed passed me.

"The air… It's so clean…"

Adrian smiled and then walked over to me. Putting his hand on my head and messing with my hair, he said,

"There's nothing like that new planet air, am I right?"

I laughed a little and then lifted my hand, trying to get him to stop fiddling with my hair.

"I guess you are."

I managed to push his hand back, and then I looked at the house next to me. I paused for a moment, and I stared at it in awe.

"So, do you want to go inside of just keep looking at it?"

Adrian said as he walked back up the ramp of the ship and grabbed a bag from the big room. I turned back towards him and replied with,

"Only if the inside is twice as nice as the out."

He laughed for a moment and then made his way back down the ramp. After he did he pulled out some keys from his pocket and pressed another button on the back of the ship, causing the ramp to go back up.

"Well, you can be the judge of that."

And with that, he started to walk across a concrete path towards the front door of the house. I followed behind him as we made out way to the door. I looked at it and saw that it looked like there where eye scanners, and finger print readers next to the door. He put his fingerprint on the scanners and looked into the eye scanner, and then a voice came out of some speakers that must have been hidden in the wall.

"Welcome home, Adrian."

The door didn't open though. I looked a little confused, but then Adrian raised the keys he pulled out from his pocket.

"I believe they used these in your time also."

He then put the key in the door, turned it, and the door opened. He took a step inside, and I took a few steps forward, ready to see what the inside of his house looked like.

**I'm sorry you had to sit through that. Its as hard for me to go back and read, if not harder, then it is for you. Do not let this reflect my skill or talent as a writer, as I've gotten much better since then.  
Lets just hope I can get working on a new version.  
**


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